Many top Singaporean researchers work abroad. What will bring them home — and at the same time help retain scientists who stayed on in the republic?

FOUR decades ago, armed with a newly minted doctorate from Cambridge University, a young Malaysian neuro-anatomy researcher arrived to work at the then University of Singapore.

Having come back to South-East Asia to be closer to his family, Prof Ling Eng Ang found a research landscape "like a Third World country". Research funding was scarce; the lab had to buy and breed its own rats for studies, and there was no budget to publish papers in top journals that sought fees from researchers.

When the university began hiring scientists from the rich West who had lengthy publication records, "how could we compete?" he recalled.

Singaporean researchers left for countries with a more developed culture of science and richer funding. Later, others went and stayed, seeking to grow their careers.

Now, Singapore wants to woo this diaspora home, particularly those who have excelled in their fields.

Once they are headhunted by universities and research institutes in the island-state, scientists who are Singapore citizens will get up to five years of research funding.

This comes out of the S$16.5bil (RM41.2bil) pot earmarked for R&D between 2011 and 2015, while their salaries are paid by the institute that employs them.

"By doing so, we hope to anchor the research capabilities and grow the Singapore core," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said last month when he announced the scheme.

Lee explained it was "worthwhile to make an extra effort".

"These are the people who might not be otherwise thinking of coming back," he said.

"They have already set up their careers, settled in and have challenging and exciting jobs. wherever they are in the world. We say: come back, we would like to have this link with you, either come back to visit or come back to relocate."

This seems like a good idea in principle.

As the popular narrative goes, Singapore has very deliberately been bootstrapping itself up to the head of the class in engineering, physical and biomedical sciences over the past two decades, a process jump-started by importing big-name scientists from the West.

Now, it's time to groom Singaporeans – who presumably will have a vision for science in the republic – to take up leadership positions.

That is the core idea. But how effective will it be?

Singaporean stars

The National Research Foundation (NRF) does not keep tabs on how many Singapore scientists are abroad, but it said it was building a database of those overseas.

However, it is known that some are outstanding in their fields. For example, Prof Peh Li-Shiuan of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's electrical engineering and computer science department studies ways to boost the computing power of computer chips.

Assoc Prof Wong Chee Wei at Columbia University manipulates light to study tiny nanostructures. Last month, he was named a Fellow of the Optical Society of America.

Another Singaporean, Dr Desney Tan, is a principal researcher at Microsoft's research division, where he studies human-computer interaction, mobile computing and healthcare applications.

Even if Singapore could track all its expatriate scientists down, drawing them back is a different matter. Choosing where to live and work are very personal decisions.

Singapore presents itself as a vibrant, well-funded destination for science research. If this is the case, why do Singaporean scientists need an extra carrot to come home?

In some fields, the opportunities elsewhere are richer.

Assoc Prof Leonard Lee of Columbia Business School, whose PhD in marketing was from MIT, said the opportunity to learn from his field's best minds was "too great to miss". But he keeps a foot in each country, giving seminars at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and other Singapore universities.

And Microsoft's Dr Tan said the firm offered him support to build a "dream team". He was also drawn by the chance to "conduct scientific research with the very best and then to translate that research into commercial products that get used by millions of people".

Over time, many put down roots overseas. Some have married non-Singaporeans and live in their spouse's home country. Some like the economies of scale in the research environment at, say, Harvard.

The truth is, people sometimes leave because they are simply dissatisfied with the level of bureaucracy or pressure for quick results. The latter has also been known to turn off some of the big names lured from overseas.

NRF might be more successful if it understood what draws Singaporeans home.

Family is a major reason: Nanyang Technological University (NTU) mathematician Chua Chek Beng gave up a tenure-track post at the University of Waterloo in Canada in 2006 because he and his wife wanted to be closer to their parents in Singapore.

It helped that he was offered the chance to work at NTU's brand-new school of physical and mathematical sciences, too.

Assoc Prof Too Heng-Phon of NUS' biochemistry department, who is Malaysian and a permanent resident here but whose wife and son are Singaporean, said he came back to the region to be closer to family as well.

Grants can help. When she received a Clinician Scientist Award grant from the National Medical Research Council, cardiologist Carolyn Lam returned from Mayo Clinic in the United States to practise and do research at the National University Hospital (NUH), where she focuses on women's heart health.

Equal treatment

Great teachers are another draw. NUS' Prof Ling said that while the conditions were spartan back in the 1970s, the late Prof Ragunathar Kanagasuntheram was a great mentor. He also stayed in Singapore out of a sense of duty. "We were almost like the 'pioneers' and we helped build up this place both in teaching and research. If we don't, who else?"

As Singapore builds up its research ecosystem and draws other leading minds, those who come home may themselves become a draw for younger academics looking for mentors.

Prof Ling, for instance, has trained generations of medical students. And collaborations like the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology allow those like Prof Peh to guide younger scientists in both Singapore and their home university.

While Singapore draws its own home and attracts foreign researchers, it also ought to recognise those who have long served here. It should treat equally those who have gone abroad and those who have stayed. Researchers like Prof Ling, Prof Lee and NTU dean of science Prof Ling San agreed on this point. The NRF carrot could help to retain outstanding Singaporean scientists, too.

At the same time, the move to woo back Singaporean scientists can also be seen as an exhortation to young scientists to go forth, grow their careers wherever they wish, then come home. They will not be considered quitters, but valuable returnees.

Dr Wilhelm Krull, secretary- general of Germany's private Volkswagen Foundation and a member of Singapore's high-level Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council, suggested it was "time to think more in terms of circulation rather than brain drain or brain gain".

Dr Tan of Microsoft noted that the new scheme signalled a strong commitment to top local talent, a change from previous years.

When he completed his PhD in 2004, he felt Singapore favoured foreign hires with more attention and fat relocation packages. To draw him home, Singapore would have to replicate the "excitement, unfettered support and commitment" of his current conditions.

"There is no cookie cutter formula for this. What will work for one domain and individual, may not work for another ... But if done right, I believe top talent will choose to jump back in from their presumably fulfilling positions outside of Singapore and to embrace the challenge.

"In general, I think many Singaporeans would love to return home and serve the country, and I'm excited to see conditions swinging in favour of this," he added.

More than 11,000 people have been displaced after Super Typhoon Haiyan, also known as Yolanda, tore a path of destruction through central Philippines last Friday. At least 4,000 are feared dead. One writer reflects on the latest disaster to hit his home country.

OF the first images of the devastating power that Super Typhoon Yolanda bore as it barrelled through the Visayan islands, what struck me most was the grainy footage of the frenzied swaying of chandeliers in an old cathedral in Leyte whose roof was torn piece by piece by the howling wind.

Throughout the day, television stations had seemed hard-pressed to show scenes of massive destruction that somehow would match the worldwide attention Yolanda had garnered even before it made landfall.

The memorable footage was taken by a GMA-7 TV crew that had sought shelter from the storm inside the church. To me, it dramatically captured the essential aspects of our traumatic encounters with nature - our helplessness in the face of its frightening power, and our unshakable faith that, in spite of everything, we will be saved.

So powerful were Yolanda's winds that, even as she made several landfalls, she went away as swiftly as she came – as though she were headed somewhere else and was only passing through. She stayed on track and didn't linger. There were no other weather systems in the horizon to complicate her journey.

She arrived not a minute sooner – not under cover of darkness, like other typhoons, but just as daylight was breaking. This meant that residents in the affected areas had every opportunity to find refuge in safe places. Most important of all, although she gathered unprecedented strength while traversing the Pacific Ocean, Yolanda didn't carry with her a lot of rain. From experience, we know that it is torrential rain, with the killer floods and mudslides it triggers, that tends to multiply the number of fatalities.

Still, I would argue that, more than luck, it is practice founded on learning that spells the greatest difference between survival and tragedy, and between being crippled by crisis and being able to rise from it. That is the whole significance behind the need for drills and exercises.

We have gone through so many tough challenges, indeed perhaps more than our fair share of nature's catastrophic events, that our daily routines as a people have become, by themselves, survival drills. Under the circumstances in which we live, only the most foolish would fail to learn how to parry nature's blows.

As a result, I think most Filipinos have mastered the art of suffering. Our personal psychology revolves around the virtue of overcoming adversity. We are generally unfazed by misfortune. We adapt to it as if it were living's default mode. As the average overseas Filipino worker abundantly shows, we take unimaginable risks working in the most unfamiliar places in the world as though it were the most natural thing to do.

Yet, as a country, we seem chronically unable to translate this gift into a source of collective strength. At best, we internalise it within our respective families, but seldom do we cultivate it at the level of the local and national community.

So when we say we lack discipline as a people, what we are acknowledging is our inability to coordinate our efforts and move as a unified social system. We have clearly failed to develop those tools by which we may collectively manage nature's fury. In contrast, when the killer tsunami hit Japan two years ago, that nation moved as one in the aftermath of the disaster.

But, interestingly, I learnt that, in Sendai, when everyone else was panicking in the face of the rising tide, it was the Filipino women who kept calm and instantly became the pillars of strength in the Japanese families into which they had married.

Over the years, we have learnt how to survive under very real exigencies. We have had no time for disaster drills and education.

Nature itself has kept us on our toes, throwing a variety of challenges in our direction almost as if it were preparing us for the big thing. Slowly, we are learning to heed warnings and instructions, to prepare for disasters as communities. We have become more conscious of new epidemics that come in the wake of natural calamities.

We are learning to take stock of the collective resources at our disposal and to offer spontaneous leadership and organisation when our formal institutions fail to respond. Most importantly, we are learning to befriend nature.

Philosopher Peter Sloterdijk calls these forms of competencies "anthropotechnics" – strengths acquired through repetitive practice that enhances our performance for the next challenge. It was these, I think, that Yolanda tested and brought to the fore the other day. – Philippine Daily Inquirer/ Asia News Network

It is less than six weeks to Christmas, and the festive cheer is extending beyond Orchard Road's famous annual Christmas light-up this year.

From candy cane-like structures illuminating the footpaths along the Singapore River to a Christmas village at Changi Airport, other parts of Singapore will also be adorned for the Yuletide season.

The Singapore River last night launched its inaugural light-up festival called "Christmas by the River".

It features market stalls selling Christmas- themed gifts and souvenirs until Dec 15 along the River Promenade, which stretches from the area outside Central shopping mall to Read Bridge.

In the heartland, residents in Marine Parade will get to enjoy the constituency's large-scale community-driven Christmas light-up and other activities, following the success of a similar event held last year.

At the Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade, some 30 Christmas charity trees have been put up by the Community Chest and Urban Redevelopment Authority to light up the area.

The trees, designed by students from the Lasalle College of the Arts and inspired by the stories of the less-privileged, were lit up in a ceremony last night.

Some malls are also doing extra work to put up a good Christmas show for shoppers. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

The French literary classic will be re-adapted by writer who won an Oscar for the screenplay of the 1988 Hollywood movie based on the book.

DANGEROUS Liaisons, the saucy epistolary novel penned in 1782 by French author Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, will once again be adapted for the screen, this time in a BBC drama series, Deadline.com reports.

The scandalous story of the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont is on its way to TV in a new version written by Christoper Hampton. The author is already thoroughly acquainted with Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which he adapted into a play and a film script in the 1980s.

Stephen Frears turned Hampton's screenplay into the 1988 feature Dangerous Liaisons starring Glenn Close and John Malkovich in the roles of the two libertine aristocrats who challenge one another to a cruel and titillating bet. The film earned Hampton the Oscar for the best adapted screenplay.

The new TV adaptation will be based on Laclos' original novel but will also incorporate other characters from 18th century libertine literature.

This tale of seduction, betrayal and revenge has been reinterpreted for the screen countless times through the years. Frears, Roger Vadim and Milos Forman are among the directors who have reimagined this French literary classic for cinema, in films starring Jeanne Moreau, Gerard Philipe, Annette Bening and Colin Firth.

While the BBC project marks the first direct adaptation of the novel for English-language TV, Les Liaisons Dangereuses inspired a 2003 French mini-series, directed by Jose Dayan and starring Catherine Deneuve and Rupert Everett. – AFP Relaxnews

THE network CW is preparing to revive the 1980s horror anthology series directed by George Romero, The Hollywood Reporter informs.

After confirming his reputation as a master of the horror genre with Night Of The Living Dead and Dawn Of The Dead, Romero collaborated with Stephen King on the anthology horror film Creepshow, which was then adapted into the TV series Tales From The Darkside.

From 1983 to 1988, the series told 90 short, standalone stories on gruesome and creepy themes, in the same manner as Tales From The Crypt, which premiered a few years later on HBO. The plots of each episode, combining fantasy, science-fiction and horror, were often inspired by short stories by authors specialising in these genres, including King.

Thirty years later, CW is updating the concept through a series scheduled to air in summer 2014. The reboot will be written by horror novelist Joe Hill (Stephen King's son) and produced by J.J. Abrams' frequent collaborators Alex Kurztman and Roberto Orci.

The trio collaborated in the past to adapt Hill's comic book Lock & Key into a series for Fox. The adaptation will ultimately take the form of a film instead, with support from Universal Pictures. – AFP Relaxnews

Angelina Jolie makes quite an impression – is it those horns? – in just a few seconds in the new Maleficent teaser.

IT must be said that even with just a 15-second appearance in the teaser trailer of Maleficent, Angelina Jolie is quite, erm, magnificent.

Maleficent has horns like the ones on Loki's helmet, she's clad all in black, has an unwavering voice and powers that allow her to bend trees to her will. The 86-second trailer ends with Jolie giving an evil laugh that would've made Vincent Price proud.

It was only last year that another evil queen was brought to life (quite well, really) by Charlize Theron in Snow White And The Huntsman. This evil queen, however, originates from Disney's 1959 animated classic Sleeping Beauty.

Here is the official synopsis: "A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent, has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land.

"Maleficent rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal – an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone.

"Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading king's successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realises that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom – and perhaps to Maleficent's true happiness as well."

Aurora is played by Elle Fanning, whom we encounter in the first half of this teaser trailer – a sweet innocent child who coaxes Maleficent to come out of the dark. Whether this is a good idea or bad, we'll have to wait and see.

Besides Jolie and Fanning, the film also features Sharlto Copley, Imelda Staunton and Sam Riley. Jolie's daughter, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, plays Princess Aurora as a toddler. Directed by Robert Stromberg,

THIS remake of the classic horror movie based on Stephen King's book is a fairly freaky watch with some scary moments.

Although I haven't seen the 1976 original, from what I've read, this movie is an almost exact remake of its predecessor.

Carrie – the sheltered, misfit daughter of a sexually repressed, religious fanatic mother – unleashes her newfound telekinetic powers at the school prom after being pushed too far by bullies.

The scares come mainly courtesy of the excellent performances given by Julianne Moore, who plays the mother, and Chloe Grace Moretz as Carrie. I found the opening birth scene particularly, and unexpectedly, freaky.

A film that will provide some enjoyable chills without scaring you out of your wits.

Fans of the original film or the book might want to check it out just to see how faithful it is. – Tan Shiow Chin(***)

The Second Sight

REMEMBER the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Well, we all know that karma is not something to be trifled with and in this film, karmic debt can put one in a seriously scary situation.

This Thai horror flick is quite generous with the ghosts, yet it is still somewhat short on the scares. The CGI is certainly a cool touch but too videogame-like to be taken seriously.

I suspect that you may have to watch it in 3D to fully appreciate its beautiful actresses' bountiful assets; there's a boardroom scene that gives viewers an eyeful via an extended bird's-eye view and a bathroom scene that gives new meaning to the word bloodbath.

According to this movie, never kill slimy catfish or eat slithery serpents, for they will definitely come back to devour your soul. – Seto Kit Yan (***)

Ender's Game

AS someone who has read the classic novel this movie is based on, I felt the film was a CliffsNotes version of the book.

All the important parts are there – hardly surprising, as author Orson Scott Card is one of the producers – and the story tries its best to portray the emotional complexity of protagonist Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), but viewers who haven't read the book will feel a little lost at times as the movie throws in concepts that are not properly explained on screen.

The story is about the training of the best young minds to lead humanity's forces against alien invaders called Formics, who attacked Earth 50 years ago.

Ender is picked out as the most promising candidate and recruited to Battle School to intensify his training in preparation for the upcoming attack against the Formic home world.

Overall, this is a fairly decent effort. The visuals are excellent, the story's a bit different from the usual sci-fi action fare and the acting is quite good.

Worth a watch, but those who have read the book will get the most out of it. –TSC(***)

Thor: The Dark World

TRUTH be told, I don't remember much about the plot and I only watched this last week. Something about Dark Elves wanting to harness a force called Aether to bring eternal darkness to all existence.

What I do remember is having a ball watching the movie. The story here is more about Asgard (beautifully realised in CGI) and focuses on characters like Odin (Anthony Hopkins), Frigga (Rene Russo) and Heimdall (Idris Elba).

While the best parts involve Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) being forced to deal with their sibling angst in ways both hilarious and touching, there is a lot more to enjoy here (though Natalie Portman's Jane Foster is still not one of them), including an awesome inter-dimensional climactic sequence.

The movie retains the mix of visual effects, action, humour and emotion that worked so well in Thor's first outing, and while it may not be the best entry in the Marvel movie universe, it's still loads of fun. – Sharmilla Ganesan(****)

Controversy arose after Cruise's lawyer compared acting to military service.

MARK Wahlberg would like to make it known: He didn't intend to curse out Tom Cruise when he railed against comparing acting to military service on Tuesday night. But he still thinks it's a dumb comparison to make.

A Wrap story on the screening suggested that Wahlberg might have been coyly referring to a recent media dust-up over Cruise. But the Planet Of The Apes star Wahlberg said on Wednesday that he wasn't aware that the comparison was connected to Cruise, TMZ reports.

"I didn't know it was Tom Cruise that said that, somebody just mentioned that people were comparing that, you know?" Wahlberg said. "I love Tom Cruise."

In actuality, Cruise didn't make the comparison – it was his attorney, during a deposition in the actor's libel case against Bauer Media, who compared a lengthy movie shoot to "serving in Afghanistan".

The actor himself was quick to scoff at the comparison, saying: "Oh come on. You know, we're making a movie."

Nonetheless, Wahlberg took extreme exception to the comparison during a Q&A following the world premiere of his new film Lone Survivor, about three Navy SEALs on a mission in Afghanistan.

"For actors to sit there and talk about, 'Oh I went to SEAL training,' and I slept on the – I don't give a f*** what you did. You don't do what these guys did," Wahlberg fumed. "For somebody to sit there and say my job was as difficult as somebody in the military's. How f****** dare you. While you sit in a makeup chair for two hours."

Wahlberg did not specifically reference Cruise during the tirade. While professing his love for Cruise on Wednesday, Wahlberg did say it was an "unfair" comparison.

"I have the utmost respect for Tom Cruise, but I have the utmost respect for military guys, so it's just unfair for anybody to comment on that," Wahlberg noted. – Reuters

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - As Chileans head to voting booths on Sunday to pick who will lead the country for the next four years, the biggest question mark is whether former President Michelle Bachelet wins outright or needs to wait for a December runoff.

The centre-left Bachelet has promised to narrow the worst income inequality among the 34 member states of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development by levelling the playing field in education. She has also pledged to upend a constitution that dates back to Augusto Pinochet's 17-year dictatorship.

Her Nueva Mayoria (New Majority) coalition, which spans the political spectrum from communists to moderate Christian Democrats, must also win big in congressional elections on Sunday in order to muster the political might needed to implement those changes.

"In order to confront inequality, I invite you to vote en masse for the Nueva Mayoria this Sunday. We want to win in the first round because we have a lot of work to do," Bachelet told a packed crowd at her campaign's closing ceremony on Thursday.

Trailing a distant second to the 62-year-old Bachelet in the polls is Evelyn Matthei, 60, the candidate for the governing right-wing Alianza coalition.

A candidate winning over half the votes would be elected outright - something that has not happened in 20 years. Otherwise, the two top contenders will go head to head on December 15.

One recent poll of likely voters suggested Bachelet may get the votes she needs for a first-round victory.

But other polls have shown that support for the eight other candidates, including Matthei, maverick economist Franco Parisi and former socialist congressman Marco Enriquez-Ominami, could fracture the vote and push Bachelet into a second round against Matthei.

In any case, pollsters and political analysts believe Bachelet would easily win a runoff against Matthei. Bachelet, who held the presidency from 2006 to 2010, was constitutionally barred from seeking immediate re-election after her first term, but left office enjoying stratospheric popularity.

The Andean country, the world's top copper producer, moved to a voluntary voting system from a compulsory one last year, injecting a dose of uncertainty into electoral forecasts.

All 120 lower house seats and 20 out of 38 Senate seats are also being contested on Sunday. Under the Chilean system, the governing coalition needs more than a simple majority to pass some kinds of legislation, making it easier for the opposition to block key reforms - a Pinochet-era legacy that Bachelet wants to change.

In a bid to curb Alianza's power, Bachelet has been urging voters to back her coalition's congressional candidates. Still, she is bound to face tough negotiations with the right to steer through her proposed reforms.

ROAD TO THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE

Bachelet proposes to raise corporate taxes to 25 percent from their current 20 percent and close a business tax loophole to finance an education overhaul. Matthei contends that could hurt economic growth and slow corporate investments.

Chile has boasted average annual economic growth of over 5 percent and made enormous headway toward eradicating extreme poverty in the more than 20 years since the return to democracy.

But the mining powerhouse - home to a third of global copper output and some of the region's most powerful companies, including LATAM Airlines, retailer Cencosud and industrial conglomerate Empresas Copec - still has work to do to join the ranks of developed countries.

Its highly stratified education system was at the heart of student protests that exploded in 2011 to demand free and improved schooling, shaking the political and business elite. Camila Vallejo, who shot to fame as the face of the student movement, is running for a seat in the lower house on Sunday.

"Inequality is Chile's huge scar," Bachelet told the spirited, flag-waving crowd on Thursday. "It's our main obstacle and the stone in our shoe when we really think about becoming a modern country."

Bachelet's down-to-earth, affable manner and her personal history, which is intimately tied to the nation's tumultuous past, have helped propel her past Matthei.

Bachelet and her father were victims of torture during the Pinochet years, while Matthei's father was a general in the dictatorship's 1973-1990 junta.

That association, along with Matthei's penchant for off-the-cuff expletives, her late entry into the presidential race and public disenchantment with incumbent President Sebastian Pinera, has hurt the right-wing candidate's chances.

Votes will be cast from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time (1100 to 2100 GMT) and the first partial results are scheduled to be reported by the national electoral service at 7:30 p.m. (2230 GMT) or when 20 percent of votes have been counted.

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras' ruling party presidential candidate, Juan Hernandez, escaped unhurt after the helicopter in which he was travelling crashed on Saturday, a spokesman for his National Party said.

Hernandez was travelling with his wife and three members of his campaign team to a rally in the city of Juticalpa, 80 miles (130 km) east of the capital, Tegucigalpa, when the helicopter crashed from a low altitude.

"Thanks to God that we are OK," the candidate said on Twitter.

"The helicopter started to have mechanical problems. They heard some noises and it started to drop, and as it fell, the tail split off," said the spokesman, adding nobody was injured in the accident.

Authorities have not commented on possible causes of the crash.

Hernandez, the 45-year-old head of Honduras' Congress, is in a tight race with leftist candidate Xiomara Castro, the wife of ousted former President Manuel Zelaya. The election is November 24.

Hernandez resumed his journey in another helicopter after the accident.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The bodies of seven people were found buried in several hidden graves in a rural area near the Mexican resort city of Acapulco, local media reported on Saturday.

An anonymous caller alerted police to bodies buried in the town of El Cayaco near the Pacific coast in Guerrero state, the reports said.

The seven bodies, all men, were found in five graves, magazine El Proceso said on its website.

The bodies were already decomposed, the newspaper Reforma said.

Six other bodies were found on Thursday in hidden graves in El Salto, another small town in the rural area outside of Acapulco, once a fashionable international resort.

On Friday, 18 bodies were found buried in several buildings in Michoacan, which borders Guerrero to the north.

Almost 80,000 people have died since former President Felipe Calderon launched a campaign against drug cartels in 2006.

Since President Enrique Pena Nieto took office last December, the number of killings has fallen slightly. But the violence has continued and even spread to new areas, with no major changes in security strategy, according to analysts.

(Reporting by Miguel Angel Gutierrez; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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Angelina Jolie makes quite an impression – is it those horns? – in just a few seconds in the new Maleficent teaser.

IT must be said that even with just a 15-second appearance in the teaser trailer of Maleficent, Angelina Jolie is quite, erm, magnificent.

Maleficent has horns like the ones on Loki's helmet, she's clad all in black, has an unwavering voice and powers that allow her to bend trees to her will. The 86-second trailer ends with Jolie giving an evil laugh that would've made Vincent Price proud.

It was only last year that another evil queen was brought to life (quite well, really) by Charlize Theron in Snow White And The Huntsman. This evil queen, however, originates from Disney's 1959 animated classic Sleeping Beauty.

Here is the official synopsis: "A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent, has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land.

"Maleficent rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal – an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone.

"Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading king's successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realises that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom – and perhaps to Maleficent's true happiness as well."

Aurora is played by Elle Fanning, whom we encounter in the first half of this teaser trailer – a sweet innocent child who coaxes Maleficent to come out of the dark. Whether this is a good idea or bad, we'll have to wait and see.

Besides Jolie and Fanning, the film also features Sharlto Copley, Imelda Staunton and Sam Riley. Jolie's daughter, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, plays Princess Aurora as a toddler. Directed by Robert Stromberg,

THIS remake of the classic horror movie based on Stephen King's book is a fairly freaky watch with some scary moments.

Although I haven't seen the 1976 original, from what I've read, this movie is an almost exact remake of its predecessor.

Carrie – the sheltered, misfit daughter of a sexually repressed, religious fanatic mother – unleashes her newfound telekinetic powers at the school prom after being pushed too far by bullies.

The scares come mainly courtesy of the excellent performances given by Julianne Moore, who plays the mother, and Chloe Grace Moretz as Carrie. I found the opening birth scene particularly, and unexpectedly, freaky.

A film that will provide some enjoyable chills without scaring you out of your wits.

Fans of the original film or the book might want to check it out just to see how faithful it is. – Tan Shiow Chin(***)

The Second Sight

REMEMBER the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Well, we all know that karma is not something to be trifled with and in this film, karmic debt can put one in a seriously scary situation.

This Thai horror flick is quite generous with the ghosts, yet it is still somewhat short on the scares. The CGI is certainly a cool touch but too videogame-like to be taken seriously.

I suspect that you may have to watch it in 3D to fully appreciate its beautiful actresses' bountiful assets; there's a boardroom scene that gives viewers an eyeful via an extended bird's-eye view and a bathroom scene that gives new meaning to the word bloodbath.

According to this movie, never kill slimy catfish or eat slithery serpents, for they will definitely come back to devour your soul. – Seto Kit Yan (***)

Ender's Game

AS someone who has read the classic novel this movie is based on, I felt the film was a CliffsNotes version of the book.

All the important parts are there – hardly surprising, as author Orson Scott Card is one of the producers – and the story tries its best to portray the emotional complexity of protagonist Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), but viewers who haven't read the book will feel a little lost at times as the movie throws in concepts that are not properly explained on screen.

The story is about the training of the best young minds to lead humanity's forces against alien invaders called Formics, who attacked Earth 50 years ago.

Ender is picked out as the most promising candidate and recruited to Battle School to intensify his training in preparation for the upcoming attack against the Formic home world.

Overall, this is a fairly decent effort. The visuals are excellent, the story's a bit different from the usual sci-fi action fare and the acting is quite good.

Worth a watch, but those who have read the book will get the most out of it. –TSC(***)

Thor: The Dark World

TRUTH be told, I don't remember much about the plot and I only watched this last week. Something about Dark Elves wanting to harness a force called Aether to bring eternal darkness to all existence.

What I do remember is having a ball watching the movie. The story here is more about Asgard (beautifully realised in CGI) and focuses on characters like Odin (Anthony Hopkins), Frigga (Rene Russo) and Heimdall (Idris Elba).

While the best parts involve Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) being forced to deal with their sibling angst in ways both hilarious and touching, there is a lot more to enjoy here (though Natalie Portman's Jane Foster is still not one of them), including an awesome inter-dimensional climactic sequence.

The movie retains the mix of visual effects, action, humour and emotion that worked so well in Thor's first outing, and while it may not be the best entry in the Marvel movie universe, it's still loads of fun. – Sharmilla Ganesan(****)

Controversy arose after Cruise's lawyer compared acting to military service.

MARK Wahlberg would like to make it known: He didn't intend to curse out Tom Cruise when he railed against comparing acting to military service on Tuesday night. But he still thinks it's a dumb comparison to make.

A Wrap story on the screening suggested that Wahlberg might have been coyly referring to a recent media dust-up over Cruise. But the Planet Of The Apes star Wahlberg said on Wednesday that he wasn't aware that the comparison was connected to Cruise, TMZ reports.

"I didn't know it was Tom Cruise that said that, somebody just mentioned that people were comparing that, you know?" Wahlberg said. "I love Tom Cruise."

In actuality, Cruise didn't make the comparison – it was his attorney, during a deposition in the actor's libel case against Bauer Media, who compared a lengthy movie shoot to "serving in Afghanistan".

The actor himself was quick to scoff at the comparison, saying: "Oh come on. You know, we're making a movie."

Nonetheless, Wahlberg took extreme exception to the comparison during a Q&A following the world premiere of his new film Lone Survivor, about three Navy SEALs on a mission in Afghanistan.

"For actors to sit there and talk about, 'Oh I went to SEAL training,' and I slept on the – I don't give a f*** what you did. You don't do what these guys did," Wahlberg fumed. "For somebody to sit there and say my job was as difficult as somebody in the military's. How f****** dare you. While you sit in a makeup chair for two hours."

Wahlberg did not specifically reference Cruise during the tirade. While professing his love for Cruise on Wednesday, Wahlberg did say it was an "unfair" comparison.

"I have the utmost respect for Tom Cruise, but I have the utmost respect for military guys, so it's just unfair for anybody to comment on that," Wahlberg noted. – Reuters

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents has voiced concerns that tourism would be affected by the shocking shooting and abduction of Taiwanese tourists in Sabah.

MATTA deputy president Jeffri Sulaiman said the incident was a blow to the industry, especially since the Lahad Datu incursion earlier this year.

"Sabah is one of the states that draws the biggest income in the tourism industry," he told The Star. "In addition, travel agencies have been gearing up for Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014."

Jeffri added that he hoped Chang An Wei, 58, the missing wife of deceased victim Hsu Li Min, 57, would be found soon.

Tourism and Culture Ministry corporate communications head Dr Amerjit Singh said he was shocked and saddened by the incident.

He expressed his condolences to the victims' next of kin, adding that the ministry was maintaining constant communication lines with the police in Sabah.

"They are doing a detailed investigation. Let them complete it first," he said.

The Government set up the Eastern Sabah Security Command on April 1 following the invasion by Sulu gunmen into Lahad Datu and Semporna districts, which resulted in the deaths of 10 Malaysian security personnel.

The agency is tasked with safeguarding security in waters off 10 coastal districts placed under the Eastern Sabah Security Zone.

The United States has issued travel advisories in the past, warning its citizens to exercise caution when travelling to the Sabah's east coast.

The US state department said there had been several abductions and incidents of piracy in the area since 2000, adding that the Abu Sayyaf group based in the Philippines was responsible for some of them.

Meanwhile, it was reported in Sinchew Daily that the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia might change its travel advisory against Sabah from "grey" to the "yellow" alert. "Yellow" is the second stage warning.

Earlier, when contacted, the office said it was keeping close tabs on the events unfolding in Sabah following the shooting of the tourist.

Its information division first secretary Minford Yu said they learnt of the incident from The Star's reports.

"We contacted the police as well as the Foreign Affairs Ministry," he said. "We have confirmed that the victims are two Taiwanese people."

MALACCA: Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research said vehicles of more than 12 years old are not roadworthy anymore and could pose risks to drivers.

Miros director-general Prof Dr Wong Shaw Voon said these vehicles were exposed to mechanical-related glitches and its safety net ability would have diminished in a crash.

"Most vehicles are manufactured to function to optimum between five and 12 years," he said.

"Many owners are unaware that after this time frame, the automobiles are exposed to mechanical risks," he said after a crash test at the Asean New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) lab in Tiang Dua here yesterday.

Dr Wong and Road Safety Department director-general Datuk Dr Tam Weng Wah witnessed the crash test conducted on a car manufactured in 1990 at a speed of 64km per hour.

Dr Wong noted that a vehicle's road worthiness was also based on several other factors, including its design, frequency of usage, style of driving and maintenance schedule.

For instance, he said taxis had a maximum lifespan of five years due to heavy usage.

He said new vehicles with the latest technologies were made to avert serious impact upon collision, and this would reduce road fatalities.

"The other vital factor is that the vehicles should be maintained accordingly to avoid any mechanical malfunction," he added.

A new documentary examines how
George Romero and his team
created an icon of the horror genre.

SURELY the only film to simultaneously play in a 42nd Street grindhouse and at the Museum of Modern Art, Night Of The Living Dead, director George A. Romero's 1968 classic, redefined the horror film for all time.

"Horror really has a function in society, of expressing cultural anxiety, and there's no greater way to examine that than with Night Of The Living Dead," says filmmaker Larry Fessenden (The Last Winter), who is executive producer of Birth Of The Living Dead, a new documentary about the Romero masterpiece.

"This movie," he adds, "perfectly expressed the failure of the 1960s to deliver a new society, and the general anxiety of the time."

Romero was a Pittsburgh ad man making beer commercials when he raised money from friends, hired a cast of mostly nonprofessional actors and, using an abandoned farmhouse as a claustrophobic set, shot a story of the dead rising from their graves.

Night Of The Living Dead rescued the zombie film from its voodoo roots.

Combining an end-times narrative in the era of Vietnam and racial unrest, Night Of The Living Dead took the bold step of featuring an African-American protagonist, Ben (Duane Jones).

Its end-times narrative had enormous resonance in the era of Vietnam and racial unrest (it also featured an African-American hero, Ben, played by Duane Jones), and it became a prime example of what talented people can do with imagination and almost no budget.

"It's an awesome example of indie chutzpah," says Fessenden. "This is a tale of a little movie that could – it became an iconic film."

Relegated to second-tier movie houses, the movie was eventually championed by Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine, and several American and European critics.

Eventually honoured by being placed on the Library of Congress' National Film Registry, Night Of The Living Dead jump-started a zombie genre that continues to frighten in such films as World War Z and the hit TV show The Walking Dead.

"The zombie was thought of as a niche horror genre (at the time)," says Fessenden. But Romero changed all that with his film's political subtext, and "in general, the zombie motif still speaks to our times, in the sense of apocalyptic despair."

Yet, despite its cheap look and bleak ending, says Fessenden, Night Of The Living Dead "still packs a wallop. We're not accustomed to endings this bleak. You still feel there's a sense of integrity in the storytelling. It unsettles and challenges you." – Newsday/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Awie turned on a stellar performance in his lead role in SuperMokh The Musical.

AS a huge fan of the late Datuk Mokhtar Dahari, the nation's football great, and also rocker-actor Awie, it was undeniable that SuperMokh The Musical was on my "must watch" list.

The thought of seeing the life of Mokhtar unveiled on stage got me beyond excited. This coming from someone who does not enjoy musicals.

To see Awie on stage bringing Mokhtar to life and telling stories that some of us, especially the younger generation were not aware of, was indeed something special.

SuperMokh The Musical, now playing at Panggung Sari, Istana Budaya in Kuala Lumpur, has that sort of magic.

The production also boasted a "match" between Malaysia and South Korea where Istana Budaya was tranformed into Stadium Merdeka for night!

Bringing back the magic: The epic Stadium Merdeka scene in SuperMokh The Musical. In this fictional match, Malaysia came back to win 3-2. — Photos by NORAFIFI

Such scenes reminded me of how my late dad and myself were glued to our black and white television set as we watched football matches together, especially the annual Pesta Bola Merdeka tournaments. We always cheered on Mokthar and the national team.

Back to SuperMokh The Musical, the nostalgia factor was integral to the show's appeal. A work by Tall Order Productions and Jugra Publication, budgeted at RM3mil, the musical tells the life of Mokhtar who was one of the best players in Asia and the best Malaysian footballer of his generation (the 1970s/early 1980s).

Mokhtar started his national football career in 1972 when he was only 19.

During his illustrious 18-year career, he was hailed as the best striker in Malaysia and called SuperMokh. The Selangor star scored more than 170 goals. He also played a prominent role in Selangor's success in the Malaysia Cup competitions.

He retired after helping Selangor win the Malaysia Cup in 1986. In the final, played at Stadium Merdeka, Selangor defeated Johor 6-1.

In the late 1980s, he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, a rare condition where parts of the nervous system become damaged, causing progressive body weakness.

If Awie's aim was to achieve 50% of the late Mokhtar's personality and mannerisms, then he did a splendid job indeed.

Granted that Awie, a two-time winner of the Boh Cameronian Best Actor Award for Cuci The Musical and Lat The Musical, remained on the chubby side despite trying to be "match fit" for the musical, he still managed to play Mokhtar convincingly on stage during the production's opening night on Wednesday.

And yes Awie (with moustache) did look like Mokhtar.

Co-directed by Hans Isaac and Harith Iskander, the musical did bring back memories of Malaysian football's heyday in 1970s.

With exciting choreography by Adzwadi Sani, coupled with the interesting visuals of Stadium Merdeka, the entire Istana Budaya made us feel that we were indeed watching a football match at the stadium.

As the musical rolled out, we found out that Mokhtar was a reserved person in real life and a romantic husband to boot.

His romantic side was shown in a scene with Awie and Maya Karin (who played Mokhtar's wife Datin Tengku Zarina Tengku Ibrahim).

On stage, she sat on Awie's lap as they talked about his football career. It was also revealed that the loving couple had almost called off their engagement once.

Amid all the song and dance featured, SuperMokh The Musical also had a human heart in the script.

Whenever his team lost a match, Mokhtar would sit quietly in a corner until he got over his disappointment. Awie took on his lead character role with much confidence – playing Mokhtar the team captain, giving out inspiration to the fans and also being a true hero to his nation and family.

Also in the musical, we were told that Mokhtar decided to retire from playing football when the corruption and match-fixing started to take its hold in local football.

There was a scene when Mokhtar was furious when he was approached by a match-fixer not to score goal in a match between Malaysia and Singapore.

With Awie's acting, the audience could almost feel the football star's pain and how the incident really hurt him. Mokhtar, as we all know, played football because of his love and passion for the sport and not for monetary rewards.

The musical also brought to light the tense atmosphere of a half-time scene with Malaysia down 2-0 to South Korea. Awie carried Mokthar the eternal optimist's role well as he lifted the dressing room with an inspirational speech. Malaysia went on to win that crucial match – but we'll leave out the small details for your own viewing pleasure at Istana Budaya.

Apart from Awie, comedian Douglas Lim did steal the show a few times in his role as Kenny – Mokhtar's new colleague at his office in PKNS.

Lim's funny and comical lines was a complete blast. That left the audiences in stitches. It was good too see a lighter side of Mokthar's life too. Apart from Lim, another character which captivated the audiences was Nurin (played by singer-actress Dina Nadzir) who was Datin Zarina's close friend and confidant.

Nurin's obsession of winning the heart of national footballer Reduan Abdullah, (played by Rashidi Ishak), who was Mokhtar's best pal, landed her in many cute and comical situations.

JAMES Raj Arokiasamy, the alleged hacker accused of using "The Messiah" pseudonym, is claiming trial, said lawyer M. Ravi after a short discussion with his client in court.

This came yesterday after Ravi's application to have access to his client was heard earlier in the day at the High Court.

Justice Choo Han Teck allowed the
lawyer to meet with Arokiasamy for a few minutes before he was led away after the hearing.

The prosecution had no objections to
the meeting.

Arokiasamy is suspected of having signed off as "The Messiah" after he allegedly hacked into the Ang Mo Kio Town Coun­cil's website on Oct 28, court documents filed by the pro-secution on Tuesday showed.

Apart from the Misuse of Computer and Cybersecurity Act, the runaway drug offender, who had been in hiding since 2011,
also faces three charges for drug consumption.

The 35-year-old, who was arrested in Malaysia on Nov 4, is currently being remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for psychiatric evaluation.

The case against him will be heard again in court on Nov 26. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

THE Singaporean government was aware that drug mule Yong Vui Kong could escape the gallows when it proposed lifting the mandatory drug penalty, said Law Minister K. Shanmugam.

But it went ahead with the changes for the benefit of the wider society, he told reporters on the sidelines of a gathering of
Common­wealth foreign ministers here on Thursday.

"We were certainly aware of the possibility that he could be one of those to benefit from the changes because we know that he had given some information which led to the arrest of someone else more senior in the hierarchy," Shanmugam said.

"It was a case that seemed to fit with the changes we were making, but we made those changes as they were in the interest of society as a whole."

The minister was responding to a question on whether the high-profile nature of the Malaysian's fight against the death penalty was a factor in his resentencing.

Earlier on Thursday, Yong, 25, became the first convicted drug trafficker to be given a chance under the new law. He was resentenced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane by the High Court.

Judges now have the discretion to impose life terms and caning on drug couriers who substantively assist the Central Narcotics Bureau.

Shanmugam said that the lifting of the mandatory drug penalty would provide an incentive for drug couriers to help the authorities nab bigger fish.

"If they know that the more they tell us, the more certainty they will face the death penalty, they will not cooperate," he noted. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network